| National Monuments Loophole |
The levelling of two ring forts in Killmurray, north Cork this summer led to a public outcry in the county with calls for our justice system ‘to flex its muscles'. A loophole in the law, however, means that over 126,000 recorded monuments and sites in Ireland have no legal protection because landowners have never been notified of the presence of these monuments on their lands. The scale of the modern destruction of our archaeological heritage became apparent in 2001 when the Heritage Council studied seven areas totalling 600 square miles - or 2.2% of the land area in the Republic of Ireland. This showed that 34% of archaeological monuments known to have been extant within the previous quarter-century had been destroyed. // Read More // |  |
|
| Posted By Tony Lowes on 28/10/2010 ( Reads : 5387 ) | Comments (3) | Archaeology |
| LOOPHOLE ALLOWS THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT IRISH SITES |
| FIE's investigation into the levelling of two ringforts in north Cork this summer led to the discovery that no one has ever been successfully prosecuted for damaging or destroying an ancient site in Ireland. This is because a loophole in the law which means that over 126,000 ancient sites in Ireland have no protection because their owners have not been told they are there. According to the independent Heritage Council, by 2001 the result was the destruction of more than a third of these sites in the previous quarter-century. They estimated the rate of destruction had reached 10% a decade. Five years later, Teacasc, the farm advisory body reported that enlargement in farms required to maintain international competitiveness has made the coming decade ‘a high risk period for Ireland's archaeological heritage.' According to Professor William O'Brien, Professor of Archaeology at UCC and Chairman of the Royal Irish Academy's Archaeological Committee, ‘Until all landowners have been legally notified of the presence of registered archaeological sites on their land, it is not possible to have effective protection of these sites.' Read FIE's submissions to the Minister for the Environment, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, and the European Commission . And see the Daily Mail's story ... // Read More // |  |
|
| Posted By Tony Lowes on 28/10/2010 ( Reads : 554 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Call for prosecution of Ringfort destruction |
| FIE is calling for prosecutions to follow the recent destruction of two ringforts in north Cork. The Heritage Service of Cork County Council has confirmed to FIE the complete levelling of two listed ringforts by a farmer in County Cork. The ringforts were located in the townland of Knockacareagh, near Killmurray in north Cork. While the vast majority of farmers and land owners have the greatest respect for our archaeological heritage, often at their own expense, there remain elements in the farming community who believe that they can destroy these sites at will because of the wide spread historic lack of enforcement. The local Guards refused to act unless requested by the National Monuments Service or the Local Authority. By the time these bodies visited the site, the destruction had been completed.
In a letter to the Minister for the Environment, we have urged that the full weight of the law is brought to bear in this case. The message must go out across Ireland that however few these individuals are, they will not be tolerated and the national heritage will be protected. Letter to Minister (with maps) | Picture and maps from auctioneers site |
Before and after photographs READ MORE IN THIS WEEKEND'S VILLAGE MAGAZINE BASED ON DOCUMENTATION AND LEGAL OPINION REVEALING A LOOPHOLE IN THE LAW THAT LEAVES IRELAND'S 120,000 RECORDED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES UNPROTECTED.// Read More // |  |
|
| Posted By Tony Lowes on 05/08/2010 ( Reads : 619 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Call to publish national mines assessment |
Eamon Ryan TD,
Minister for Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources
24 July 2009 By email: minister.ryan@dcenr.gov.ie Dear Minister; We would draw your attention to the delay in publishing "Historic Mine Sites - Inventory and Risk Characterisation (HMS - IRC)", required under Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from extractive industries. This Directive states: (30) It is necessary for Member States to ensure that an inventory of closed, including abandoned, waste facilities located on their territory is drawn up in order to identify those which cause serious negative environmental impacts or have the potential of becoming in the medium or short term a serious threat to human health or the environment. These inventories should provide a basis for an appropriate programme of measures. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Tony Lowes on 24/07/2009 ( Reads : 1637 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND UNESCO |
Recent actions relating to the construction of the M3 motorway through the Tara/Skryne Valley reveal the Irish Government to be in direct contravention of both Agenda 21 and the World Heritage Convention. We the undersigned urgently call upon the United Nations to intervene, and to demand that the Irish Government halt work on the M3. It is imperative that an alternative route and plan be examined, one that does not cut through this heritage site of international importance, and one that is in accordance with the principles of Agenda 21and the World Heritage Convention. // Read More // |  |
|
| Posted By Tony Lowes on 30/12/2007 ( Reads : 1576 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| January 12: Tara ignores EU lessons from Carrickmines |
| FIE has made a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport claiming that the assessment of the impact of the proposed M3 motorway on Tara 'blatantly ignored' the EU warnings issued to Ireland after the Carrickmines debacle. Read our Press Releaseand the EU letter. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 12/01/2005 ( Reads : 2110 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| EU Final Letter on Carrickmines |
| Re: Complaint P2002/5087
Environmental Impact Assessment undertaken for the M50 motorway project with regard to Carrickmines Castle. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 12/01/2005 ( Reads : 3020 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| January 7: Carrickmines Castle Complex: the end of the road? |
| The battle to save Carrickmines Castle Complex from the M5 motorway was dealt a potentially fatal blow by the Irish High Court. It rejected on all grounds any cause for a Judicial Review of the decision to proceed. On RTE radio, the head of the National Roads Authority called for changes in the law to prevent what he suggested were the costs and delays the 'protestors' had caused. The National Roads Authority's profound ignorance of the system was made clear when its Chief Executive Mr. Egan called the Environmental Impact Statement, which EU experts have called 'flawed', a "Report" and went on to say that the failure of the non technical summary to demonstrate the true value of the site was a 'technical matter.' The National Roads Authority are now calling for a change in the law as they claim the present legislation allows 'any individual to claim any feature or site was a national monument', pure nonesence. All that is left now is the hope that EU Commission Margot Wallstrom will respond favourably to FIE's letter urging the Commission to intervene.
Read The Letter
Read the Report and the Irish Responses
// Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 07/01/2004 ( Reads : 1962 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| FIE Calls on EU to Halt Work at Carrickmines |
| Friends of the Irish Environment today faxed Margo Wallstrom, the EU Environmental Commissioner, seeking her intervention to stop the work that began again this morning again at the site of the Carrickmines Castle Complex. [Read The Letter] // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 16/12/2003 ( Reads : 2207 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| FIE publishes EU Expert Report on Carrickmines and Irish Responses |
| FIE publishes EU Expert Report on Carrickmines and Irish Responses
FIE has tonight published the Kampsax Report, commissioned by the EU in response to a Petition from FIE and Friends of Medieval Dublin about the destruction of the Carrickmines Castle Complex by the proposed M50 Motorway. This is the Report from which key words were leaked by RTE last night on Prime Time television. Key words were "defective", "failings" and "flawed". Included in this large file are the responses from the Local Authority and the Government's Heritage Service.
Be patient: it is a big file in pdf format. It should be about three minutes.
Click HERE to download the Report and Irish Responses
[And read our letter to the Commssion.] // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 12/12/2003 ( Reads : 1968 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| 12 December: EU report backs FIE Petition on Carrickmines |
| FIE and Friends of Medieval Dublin's petition to the EU has resulted in a confidential study by the EU on the Carrickmines EIA that uses words like "defective", "failings" and "flawed" about the Environmental Impact process, exactly as FIE and others alleged.
A spokesman for FIE said that once again, early and clear warnings by qualified professionals have been ignored.
"The archaeologists made it clear in their 1996 report that the rich nature of the Carrickmines Castle Complex would make the cost and time so great that it would be better to move the road. This was omitted from the EIS. The over-runs and controversy that have dogged this site are due entirely to decision-makers ignoring professional advice."
"The claims made in the petition have been substantiated by the Kanpsax Report", said the spokesman. "The Commission's obligation extends beyond the withholding of funds. If work resumes, the Commission must bring proceedings against Ireland to ensure compliance with European law."
Read our petition to see what we asked the EU to do. Click HERE to see the 1983 Report we first published that showed the authorities knew all along of the importance of this site. Use our search engine for more background. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 12/12/2003 ( Reads : 2000 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Kenmare Stone Circle |
| Letter to The County Council, Bord Failte, The Garda, and the Heritage Council // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 31/08/2003 ( Reads : 2357 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| 23 March: Petition to EU on Carrickmines hearing |
| Proinsias De Rossa, MEP and Professor Sean Duffy, Chairman of Friends of Medieval Dublin, attend the hearing of FIE and the Friends of Medieval Dublin's petition to the President of the European Commission in Brussels. Petition // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 30/08/2003 ( Reads : 1855 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Petition to EU over Carrickmines Castle Complex |
| Petition to the President of the European Commission
The Irish Government has decided to proceed with building the M50 Southern Ring Motorway section in Dublin which will pass through part of the archaeological site of Carrickmines Castle, a Recorded Monument as defined in the Irish National Monuments Act of 1994.
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the Southern Ring Motorway (M50), including the Carrickmines section, was undertaken in 1997 (producing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)) , and a public inquiry held in 1998. The scheme was approved later that year. €million of European Cohesion Fund money was approved by the Commission in April 2001.
Following the EIS, an archaeological dig began on the site in August 2000. This excavation lasted until August 2002 and uncovered evidence confirming that this site is of much greater historical and archaeological significance than indicated in the EIS. The site is known to have a well-preserved 13th century Norman castle wall enclosing two areas totalling 3 acres of buildings, workshops, houses, kilns, wells, and numerous defensive ditches. The surrounding area of up to 5 acres also contains much material of archaeological significance but only a small part of it has yet been excavated, all of which will be affected by the motorway. The Castle represents one of the border castles of the Norman Angevin Empire, who ruled parts of France, Britain, and Ireland. Very few of these early border castles have been excavated.
An Taisce (Ireland's National Heritage Trust) claims that the appraisal of the site prior to construction of the road commencing was inadequate and did not comply with the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. Furthermore, it has now emerged that a 1983 Foras Forbartha (National Institute For Physical Planning and Construction Research) Report carried out by Mr. P Healy on Carrickmines Castle concluded that it was "an important outpost, and although little survives of the buildings, the earthworks are quite exceptional and are worthy of preservation."
That 1983 Foras Forbartha report recommended that any new road "if...placed on the south side of the farm...would avoid any interference with the sites." Taking this report into account the Local Authority at that time agreed a road alignment avoiding the site.
This information was not properly brought to the attention of the public during the preparation of the M50 alignment or at the public hearings which took place as part of the planning process and which concluded in 1998.
Mr. Healy's surveys for An Foras Forbartha are a seminal and obvious source for any study of archaeological monuments in County Dublin. The bibliography of the Sites and Monuments Records for County Dublin (SMR) 1988, includes a select bibliography of 12 publications. Mr. Healy's work for An Foras Forbartha is included.
Further, a coin hoard found in 1995 and recorded in the Irish Antiquities Division archive of the National Museum was found to the east of Glenamuck Road - an area which shows no archaeological remains in the EIS. had the archives of the National Museum of Ireland been consulted the evidence of the Carrickmines coin hoard would have alerted the compilers to the possibility that the monument extended to the east of the Glenamuck Road.
The failure to consult - or to include in the EIS - records held by the National Museum of Ireland or the sites and Monuments Records for County Dublin (1988) constitutes the most serious failure of the EIS.
The 1998 M50 alignment was altered from the route determined in the 1993 County Dublin Development Plan which avoided the Carrickmines Castle site so that it now crosses site. The outcome of the planning process allowed time for an archaeological dig for a one year (extended eventually to two years) while construction continued of the M50 at each end of the site. Up to 130 people were involved in the dig at the time it was brought to a halt on 30 August 2002, and it is estimated that up to 12 months more would be needed to complete that work. More than 90,000 artefacts were found to date.
Because of public outcry about the proposed destruction of this site the Minister for Transport has produced what he describes as a compromise proposal and has expressed himself 'uneasy' with the decision he has made. The variation to the scheme, which was prepared privately within his department and claims to "save" 60% of the site, is not being subjected to a public planning process.
In fact upwards of 35% of the site remains to be excavated and it is estimated this includes upwards of 5000 artefacts. 75-80% of the excavated areas are to be destroyed. This includes all of the areas with the remains of the workshops, wooden houses, mill, kilns, most of the wells and nearly all of the unique and incredibly well preserved 'Revetted Fosse' which runs for 237m.
The EIS of 1997 is in our view invalid and it is therefore improper for Cohesion Funds to be used on this road project as it is based on a document that was fundamentally flawed. If the Irish authorities wish to continue to avail of EU funds for this project they must be obliged to prepare new plans, prepare a full Environment Impact Assessment, including the desk studies that are omitted from the current EIS. Further, there must be a reassessment of the balance between regional development and the cultural heritage of a unique site which has produced the largest assemblage of medieval pottery ever found in rural Ireland.
We request the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament in view of the above information:
To express its concern at the imminent destruction of this archaeological site which is an irreplaceable part of Irish and European heritage and to urge an immediate stop to road construction work which encroaches on the site or which may render it impossible to avoid destroying most of the site.
To call for the completion of the full archaeological dig on the entire site which will require an extension of the completion deadline by at least 12 months.
To call on the Commission to suspend Cohesion funding pending a review of the EIA for this project, and its compliance with Council Directive 85/327 EEC on the Assessment and Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment and Council Directive 97/11 EEC, Amending Directive 85/327 EEC.
To call on the Minister for transport to submit his current amendments to the scheme to the full public planning process including a new EIS as they are a substantial variation of the scheme already approved.
Signatories:
Tony Lowes, Director, Friends of The Irish Environment
Professor Sean Duffy, Chairperson, Friends of Medieval Dublin
Attachments: To Follow
Foras Forbartha Report
Environmental Impact Assessment
Government Minister's new proposals
// Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 30/08/2003 ( Reads : 2775 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Supreme Court Carrickmines Judgement |
| THE SUPREME COURT
Hardiman J 49/2003
Geoghegan J.
McCracken J.
Between:
DOMINIC DUNNE
and
GORDON LUCAS
Plaintiffs/Appellants
and
DUNLAOGHAIRE-RATHDOWN COUNTY COUNCIL
Defendants/Respondents // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By the editors on 30/08/2003 ( Reads : 2216 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Carrickmines - Petition to the President of the European Commission |
| The Irish Government has decided to proceed with building the M50 Southern Ring Motorway section in Dublin which will pass through part of the archaeological site of Carrickmines Castle. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Gabi on 15/06/2003 ( Reads : 2490 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Carrickmines - FIE reply to European Commission Letter |
| Re: Complaint P2002/4957 concerning the proposed construction of the South East Motorway in the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown area of County Dublin and its impact on the archaeological remains of the Carrickmines Castle Complex.
// Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Gabi on 15/06/2003 ( Reads : 2748 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Carrickmines - European Commission Letter of Inquiry |
| LETTER FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO IRISH COMPLAINANTS ON THE CARRICKMINES CASTLE COMPLEX // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Gabi on 15/06/2003 ( Reads : 2349 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| Carrickmines - "Border Castles in the Twilight Zone" |
| The excavation of the Carrickmines Castle Complex began in August 2000 with 20 archaeologists, and ran until August 2002 when it had reached a final complement of some 130. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Gabi on 15/06/2003 ( Reads : 2416 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
| "Carrickmines and the Dublin marches" |
| Today the two townlands of Carrickmines Little and Carrickmines Great are located in the parish of Tully within the Dublin barony of Rathdown. Originally, though, Carrickmines belonged to the northern half of the Irish kingdom of U?? Bri??in Chualann, a land that straddled the modern Dublin and Wicklow border. // Read More // | |
|
| Posted By Gabi on 15/06/2003 ( Reads : 4532 ) | Comments (0) | Archaeology |
